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Opening a company bank account - concerns and queries.

Hello,

I recently created a company limited by guarantee. Companies House has all relevant documents and I have the certificate of incorporation, etc.

Now I want to create a company bank account. I applied on line with Bank of Scotland, was accepted, and received the forms to fill in and take back to a branch with identification.

1) However, there is a problem. Since I am the Director of the company and the sole person running it, I cannot be the secretary. I therefore instructed the company formation agents to be the (nominee) secretary. On the forms, in two places the Secretary has to sign. In both cases the company acting as secretary is listed (I assume they got the information from Companies House since I never had to mention this to them) In one place the Director also has to sign and it makes the point that they cannot be the same person/entity.

So, do I need to post this information to the company formation agents and then they might charge me, plus the hassle, OR could I just sign it as the Secretary myself, bearing in mind the Secretary is a company, not an individual so it would not be as if I was pretending to be another specific person. Would checks be made? Is this is a viable option?

Secondly, in future I suspect it would be easier to ask the formation agent to resign as secretary and appoint my own. This would involved sending form 288a to Companies House I assume?

2) They also ask for a resolution from the Board of Directors to open an account and give authority to those who operate it. What exactly would this look like (on headed paper)? There is only one Director - not a board. Presumably this does not need to be sent to Companies House?

3) Finally, they ask to stamp a box with the company stamp. So, it is just a case of purchasing one. Any suggestions?

Thanks - really appreciated.

Reply to
Billy
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In message , Billy writes

This was a mistake. It will cost you dosh. You should have appointed a friend oryour accountant (who will still charge you but at least they ill know the answers to the questions that need to be sent to Companies House.)

A duly authorised representative(s) of the Secretary will sign it on behalf of the company.

Unlikely, but you would still be guilty of forgery.

No.

Yes.

The Bank usually include the resoultion words on their mandate form.

No, just kept in the book of board meeting minutes.

Its not a stamp its a Seal. It can only be used by resolution of the board and is used for documents that the companies enter into 'under seal'. Yo9u coujld pass a board resolution to enable the company to do things 'under hand' which means you could just sign it.

Please dont take this the wrong way, but if you are so unsure about the way a Company works, do you think you should be running it? I think you should get your accountant to look after these things for you.

Reply to
john boyle

The BoS form says "Company Stamp" and "if you do not have a company stamp attach a Company Letterhead with this form."

Reply to
Billy

Letterhead? How quaint.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

"Ronald Raygun" wrote

Yeh, PC World also asked for "a Company Letterhead" when opening a business a/c ... !! [I wondered what century they were in!]

Reply to
Tim

Lots of people still do, I needed "a Company Letterhead" to get the contact name for my .net domain changed.

Reply to
usenet

What exactly is a letterhead anyhow!

Reply to
Billy

Something you create in MS Word/whatever with your company name, reg no etc on it, and print out on your inkjet printer.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

In message , Billy writes

Ahh!, in that case they just mean any old rubber stamp with the company name on it.

The company 'seal' is something different.

Reply to
john boyle

You old sassenach. You'll probably find that "company stamp" is the Scottish equivalent of what you lot call "company seal".

In these parts, a seal is one of those cute furry swimmers which keep trying to steal salmon from fishfarms. But the farm companies are onto them, and play Captain Beefheart to them through loud underwater speakers to scare them away.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

In message , Ronald Raygun writes

No NO NO!, the is a world of difference between a Company MacStamp and a Company MacSeal!

Steal? They'll be from Glasgow then.

Ahh! That'll be 'Grow Fins' then

"I'm gonna grow fins and go back in the water again If you don't leave me alone I'm gonna take up with a mermaid and leave you land-lubbin' women alone, leave you land-lubbin' women alone" !!!

Reply to
john boyle

Its surprising the number of people that seem to accept a letterhead in this sort of way, after all you just use your computer and print out any letterhead you want.

Reply to
me

Yes it's a it more convenient than Letroset (sp?) and photocopying the result!

Reply to
Fred

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